Nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries, particularly lithium secondary batteries, have high energy density and are thus in wide use as batteries for personal computers, mobile telephones, portable information terminals, and the like.
Nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries, typically lithium secondary batteries, have high energy density. Nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries let a large current flow and thus generate intense heat in the event of an accident such as a breakage of the battery or a breakage of the device using the battery has caused an internal short circuit or external short circuit. Nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries are thus required to prevent more than a certain level of heat generation to ensure a high level of safety.
Such a high level of safety is ensured typically by a method of imparting to the nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery a shutdown function, which is a function of a separator blocking passage of ions between the anode and the cathode in the event of abnormal heat generation to prevent further heat generation. The shutdown function may be imparted to a separator by, for example, a method of using, as the separator, a porous film made of a material that is meltable in the event of abnormal heat generation. A battery including such a separator allows the porous film to be melted and made non-porous in the event of abnormal heat generation to block the ion passage for prevention of further heat generation.
A proposed example of a separator having such a shutdown function is a laminated separator including (i) a porous base material and (ii) an active layer (coating layer) that contains a mixture of inorganic fine particles and a binder polymer and that is disposed on the porous base material (Patent Literatures 1 to 3). Another proposed example is a lithium secondary battery electrode including (i) an electrode and (ii) a porous film that contains inorganic fine particles and a binding agent (resin), that is disposed on the electrode, and that is capable of functioning as a separator (Patent Literature 4).